$9.5 million in Recovery Act funds to bolster Tribal water services throughout the Mountains and Plains region

(Denver, Colo. – July 8, 2009) Twelve Indian Reservations in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mountains and Plains region will have improved access to vital water services through $9.5 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. EPA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Indian Health Service (IHS) today announced $90 million nationwide in ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country.

"EPA is pleased to provide Recovery Act funds for much needed improvements to water and drinking water infrastructure on Tribal Lands throughout the Mountains and Plains region,” said Carol Rushin, EPA's Acting Regional Administrator in Denver. “These resources will protect public health, improve water quality and help create jobs.”

The Indian Country projects are part of $90 million that EPA and IHS are providing nationwide for ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country and create jobs. These efforts will help repair and upgrade critical water and drinking water infrastructure such as wastewater lagoon systems, sewer lines, water tanks and pipes.

Continuing a tradition spanning 20 years, EPA and IHS’s combined effort to improve water services in Indian Country contributed to their identification of 95 wastewater and 64 drinking water priority projects to be completed by IHS’s Sanitation Facilities Construction Program through EPA Recovery Act funds. The projects exceed the Recovery Act requirement that 20 percent of the funds be used for green infrastructure, water and energy efficiency improvements and other environmentally innovative projects.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on Feb. 17, 2009, and has directed that the recovery act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at recovery.gov.